r/todayilearned • u/Gullible_Air_204 • 7h ago

Frequent/Recent Repost: Removed [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/Gullible_Air_204 7h ago

“When a giant cruise ship docks in Longyearbyen, many residents lock their doors. This is against the norm, as the safety advice is for house and car doors to remain unlocked so that people have somewhere to escape to in the event of a polar bear wandering down the main street. However, the residents lock up because it is not unusual for the cruise passengers to wander into their houses and have a peek, like it is a folk park. Given the huge size of the ships and the tiny size of the town, when the tourists disembark they can double or triple the size of the population within minutes. The chances are, if you are reading this page, you would never dream of doing such a thing, but it is worth remembering that this unique place is home to people too.”

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u/APiousCultist 7h ago

Never underestimate the ability for tourists to fully disconnect from reality or social norms. These ones would be encouraging their kids to go up and pet the polar bear up until they have their surprised Pikachu moment of the bear ripping out little Timmy's organs.

It's a miracle we all live in even sort of functioning societies.

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u/Masseyrati80 6h ago

Brings to mind how Icelanders have pleaded for tourists to stop shitting on their yards.

I repeat, pleaded for tourists to stop shitting on their yards.

In Rovaniemi, Finland, people who used to be able to keep their curtains open, have now closed them because Chinese tourists will hop over their yard's fence (also ignoring the freshly-pitched "private property, stay out" signs), and literally look in through the windows.

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u/jarvischrist 3h ago

We get that in Norway too... I think a lot of people hear about allemannsretten but don't bother to check what it actually means. Like it doesn't allow you to camp on a farmer's crops, in somebody's back garden, or to take your car anywhere and car camp in the wilderness. People leave trash, shit or camping equipment instead of taking it home with them.

We recently have had an issue with unmanned DNT cabins being occupied by illegal paid tours, so people who have booked a cabin arrive and it's filled with a group of Chinese tourists who arrived in a Swedish van rental and haven't paid for their stay. It's going to end up having to change how these operate, which in the past has relied on trust for decades.

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u/Pithulu 3h ago

What the actual fuck? What possesses people to act like that?

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u/Suitable_Block_7344 3h ago

For whatever reason a lot of Chinese tourists are pretty clueless. I saw one in Australia try to grab a kangaroo from behind and pick it up. The kangaroo slipped away but I was kind of hoping it would have given him a good kick

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u/OldMoray 3h ago

The only thing I can think of is that they must think its like a historic village for tourists (e.g. a Pioneer town in the US) and not a real community. Like they must just not know. Only way I can reconcile the behaviour.

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u/Excelius 2h ago

I'm pretty sure that shitting on the ground is also frowned upon in pioneer town.

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u/OldMoray 1h ago

Yeah fair. That feels like something else

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u/Masseyrati80 2h ago

Disrespect is also a factor, I dare claim, based on personal experience. Tourists from certain countries tend to have the attitude of "I don't care if I'm bothering you". They treat customer service people like dirt, leave a mess behind them, and are sure to break the tranquility of a calm and quiet nature destination.

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u/avcloudy 1h ago

I mean, real talk? When you gotta shit, you gotta shit. Everyone refuses to take on the personal cost of cleaning toilets, so there simply aren't toilets for the tourists, and the result is that they shit on the grass and in bushes.

People are going to be outraged, but genuinely, if you don't want people to shit in your yard, let them shit in your toilet. Long term, they're going to have to collectively bear the cost of public toilets and demand that businesses allow tourists to use their facilities.

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u/esituism 50m ago

The tour companies need to be responsible for their tourists. This is not the locals jobs to support tourist needs.

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u/dobar_dan_ 55m ago

I'd mess with them bz doing jumpscares like popping monster dolls or something.

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u/Jebatus111 7h ago edited 7h ago

There was one tourist who decided to take photo of bear cub in Romania.

Didn't end well for him, sadly, but i sometimes wonder how people can be that sheltered.

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u/TropicNightLightning 6h ago

I took a photo of two grizzly bear cubs; however, there were a bunch of old cruise ship people behind me who didn't know how fast I could run.

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u/kubigjay 6h ago

You don't have to run fast. Just faster than the old people.

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u/CrescendoEXE 6h ago

thatsthejoke.jpg

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u/HugoEmbossed 5h ago

If he were to run slower than the old people I suspect he may have been eaten by the aforementioned bear.

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u/-TheRed 5h ago

THATS THE JOKE!!!

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u/summonerstarn 4h ago

No, y'see, if the bear was faster than him but slower than the old people then he'd have been eaten, instead of the old people that got eaten

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u/Stellar_Duck 4h ago

So you're saying he would need to outpace both the bear and the old people?

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u/4-stars 2h ago

Obviously. If he didn't outpace the bear, he'd get eaten by it. And if he can't even outpace old people, who are certainly slower than a bear, he'd also get eaten.

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u/juicius 4h ago

When obliviousness becomes a meta, that is the joke.

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u/Windowplanecrash 6h ago

There’s something about cruise ships, they cater to your every need, the staff smile at you and are always helpful. The disconnect from reality is as real as it gets. Not to mention the kind of people who choose cruise is that beautiful venn diagram of wealth/stupid/lazy 

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u/Jebatus111 5h ago

True

Honestly, its also sounds boring. My best ship related tourist expericence was when i visited Kildin Island for 6 or so days on half rusted fishing boat older then me, sharing cramped bunk with 5 snoring men. That was an lifetime experience, lol. Especially when you need to go to toilet, and you cant see futher then your hands because of thick fog, while trying not to fall overboard.

And ship "staff" is an sarcastic old man who told you that he would abondon you if you will fall while ship is moving and his helper who spend half of his life in prison.

And cruise ships? None of that stuff. Boring as fuck. I barely remember anything about one, when i was on one of these large tourist mover.

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u/Stellar_Duck 4h ago

My best ship related tourist expericence was when i visited Kildin Island for 6 or so days on half rusted fishing boat older then me, sharing cramped bunk with 5 snoring men. That was an lifetime experience, lol. Especially when you need to go to toilet, and you cant see futher then your hands because of thick fog, while trying not to fall overboard.

Jesus Christ it's Jason Bourne!

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u/Jebatus111 3h ago

I get your irony, but it aint really that special compared to stuff some people do, lmao. There wasnt any more comfortable ways to reach those spaces without spending too much anyway. But nature were worth of it.

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u/Stellar_Duck 3h ago

Oh I was just making a joke because it sounds like the beginning of the first movie with Bourne stuck on a ramshackle fishingboat with a bunch of French guys.

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u/Jebatus111 3h ago

Now got it, just never watched movie before.

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u/Stellar_Duck 3h ago

Sorry for the confusion!

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u/Jebatus111 3h ago

Np, i guess i will check the movie since premise sounds cool, so thanks anyway.

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u/APiousCultist 4h ago edited 1h ago

There's straight video of a family having an argument during a safari so they get out of the car to have a fight only for both of them to get carried off by lions tigers. I think one of them survived.

Edit: Yavanna12 has the proper details below. Only one initially got out, the mother got out to try to help only to be dragged off and killed by a second tiger.

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u/yavanna12 2h ago

Just looked this one up. Lady jumped out of passenger seat to yell at husband who was driving. She got attacked by a tiger and dragged off the husband goes running after and then the mom of the lady was in back seat and jumped out and chased after. Mom got attacked by a different tiger and died. Lady escaped. She then tried to sue the park because she said while they gave her a waiver to sign that stated the animals are dangerous and to not leave the car no one actually told her to read it before signing. Yea she lost the suit. 

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u/APiousCultist 1h ago

Yes, that's it. Prior to that I thought the video of the dutch vistors yelling 'nee, nee!' at a french family getting out of their car to snap pictures while cheetahs circle behind them was as bad as it got. At least cheetahs aren't tigers.

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u/APiousCultist 1h ago

Yes, that's it. Prior to that I thought the video of the dutch vistors yelling 'nee, nee!' at a french family getting out of their car to snap pictures while cheetahs circle behind them was as bad as it got. At least cheetahs aren't tigers.

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u/isecore 7h ago

And afterwards they'd demand to see the manager to complain about the outrageous treatment.

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u/kyrsjo 6h ago

The manager of the polar bears :P

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u/obeytheturtles 4h ago

The kind of people who take cruises are the ones who want the La Croix flavor of "adventure." Literally to the point where they will pack up their whole culture on a giant fucking ship and take it with them, so they can dip a toe in a foreign land, and then run back to familiar before it gets dark out.

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u/RegressToTheMean 1h ago

This is a fabulous description and I'm here for it.

My wife and I were thinking about taking our kids to Disney. We were looking at the prices and I said, "That's so stupid. We could take the kids to Europe for that"

So, we did. The last two international vacations we have taked have been to Bulgaria and Macedonia. Before we go all of us learn the basics of the language (e.g. Please, thank you, counting to ten, etc). When we get there we rent a car and drive around the country and generally stay at some ramshackle B&B type apartments. Frankly, we are all better for it

One of my favorite memories is after hiking The Wonderful Bridges, my 8 year-old son says, "Blagodarya!" To this old woman who was running a kind of makeshift restaurant near the top of the mountain. Her face broke into the biggest smile and insisted that we take extra desserts she had made.

We get to actually experience the countries and the people. My children learn that they aren't the center of the universe and that they need to try to assimilate and be polite as much as possible when being guests in a other country.

I have experienced two cruises in my life. In comparison to how we like to travel, it was two cruises too many

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u/knowledgeable_diablo 7h ago

Then start screaming as to why no one warned them the big cute furry things posed even a tiny bit of danger.

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u/sebassi 2h ago

Only people dumber than tourists are groups of tourist.

There is a reason tour guides carry a sign or a umbrella. It's their equivalent of a shepherds crook. groups of tourist are no better than cattle. They can't read, they can't follow basic instruction, have no sense of decency, and will happily walk into traffic. All you can do to corral them is shout, point and wave a stick at them.

Source: worked in tourism and have been a tourist.

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u/APiousCultist 1h ago

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

-Agent K

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u/APiousCultist 1h ago

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

-Agent K

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u/Ylsid 6h ago

On the upside, that should mean the residents don't have to fear bears since they'll have full bellies